Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

Format: Xbox360 XBN [Played]
Published by: Square Enix
Developed by: Crystal Dynamics
Release Date: August 18, 2010
Score: 86%

When I heard about another Tomb Raider game I was over the moon, then I heard it would be a download only and my anticipation dropped until I seen screen shoots which made me intrigued. While not a typical Tomb Raider game Guardian of Light is very playable indeed. Single player and co op whiles the same game are incredibly a different gaming experience which brings replay ability. Each stage has its own list of achievements which brings a challenge level after level and I had to play through some levels 3-4 times before managing to get every one of them.

The game is shown from a top down angle and reminds me of retro games like boulders gate, the graphics for a download game are spot on, the controls work perfectly for speed and precision which means you can do level speed runs with little issues.

Co-Op is brilliant, forcing you to work together to progress through the game’s levels, one player will be Lara who is equipped with guns and a grappling hook which can be used to swing across dangerous area’s or help your partner Totec up or even as a zip wire for him to walk across whilst the other plays as Totec who has spears which can be used to climb up walls and also a shield which can be used to block arrows and allows Lara to jump onto to get to higher levels. If you are playing on your own Lara has the Spears too and the game will still let you get everywhere you need to in a different way.

Story clips are presented in a beautiful animation and a comic book pan and scan style which seems to really fit the game’s new look.

Lara can equip items and weapons found and weapons can be easily changed as you can set 3 to the dpad. Lara also has an endless supply of time bombs which can be handy when herding enemies towards you or used to solve puzzles. This is another aspect about what makes Tomb Raider games brilliant and the puzzles here are well thought out but not tough enough so you are waiting around for ages to figure it out.